Sporting KC: Ike Opara Named To MLS Team Of The Week
Sporting KC defender Ike Opara was named to the Major League Soccer Team of the Week for the first week of the season following Sporting KC’s 1-1 draw of the New York Red Bulls.
Opara stepped in to fill the centerback role that was left vacant when Aurelien Collin was traded to Orlando City for their inaugural MLS season. Opara was without a doubt the most impressive centerback on the field on Sunday. Fellow centerback partner and Sporting KC captain Matt Besler had a rough game. He received a red card in the second half after receiving two yellow cards.
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Opara was clinical on defense, with great service out of the back, staying in position, and never putting a wrong foot in on any of his tackles. (Besler did enough of that for the both of them)
As good as Opara was on defense he was equally that good on offense. Opara opened up Sporting KC’s 2015 scoring account (and the scoring in the game) when he made a darting run in and met a Benny Feilhaber cross right in front of goal and used his head to power the ball past the keeper to put Sporting KC up 1-0 in the 50th minute.
New York would ultimately tie the game but that was of no fault to Opara. New York’s goal was a combination of a great shot by Lloyd Sam and the dysfunction in the midfield of Sporting KC that is still trying to get accustomed to each other.
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In March of 2014 Opara suffered an injury to his right ankle that would sideline him for the remainder of the 2014 season. Opara spent all of 2014 rehabbing his ankle and was able to get back into live game action in early 2015 during Sporting KC’s preseason training. It was great to see a guy come back from a season ending injury and have an immediate impact the following season. It shows that he worked hard to get back to playing at a high level on the field.
Opara was not expected to play the entire game on Sunday against the Red Bulls but a combination of his great showing and Besler getting sent off kept him in the game and playing strong.
Sporting KC return to action on Saturday, March 14th against FC Dallas at Toyota Stadium in Dallas Texas. Besler will be suspended for that match because of the red card he received on Sunday so expect Opara to be counted on to play another 90 minutes for the team. Young Kansas native Erik Palmer-Brown could be asked to step up to fill in for Besler.